Companies
McCann creatives across Europe produced a campaign of outdoor and press ads under the name “THANK YOU, DOCTORS!” to support and recognize the real-life heroes who work on the front lines during the Covid-19 pandemic. Close to one hundred posters were created by McCann offices in Europe, with more creative teams joining every day. Together with the agency’s media partners, they are filling the streets of cities with messages of gratitude for doctors and optimism about our future. According to Catalin Dobre, CCO McCann Worldgroup Romania and Regional CD McCann Central East Europe, “We started the initiative as an outdoor project meant to decorate the hundreds of billboards that are now empty and transform the cities in places that acknowledge, give power and strength to those who need to be out there, on their way to doing a very tough job – the doctors and the medical staff. The initiative spread fast with amazing work coming from all over Europe.”
The first release of posters, from McCann Belgrade, are three single images of doctors without any copy or graphics. Each poster is of a doctor’s face, which has been creased by wearing protective gear during a long hospital shift. But this by-now iconic image is much more dramatic upon closer examination – the indentations from the protective masks suggest that each of these medical workers was wearing the mask of a superhero, clearly recognizable once the idea is grasped. The three faces have been art-directed to look like the doctors are, in fact, Batman, Iron Man and Spiderman. As Adweek magazine said, “this ‘brilliant’ and simple visual execution reminds us that today’s medical workers are real-life superheroes.
